Chapter 4 Chapter Four

On the second day, after breakfast, Ruan Dacheng changed into new clothes, and sat in the sedan chair of Mr. Yang on the "Chunsheng" to visit Lu Xiaolian's house in Lu Rongshan, South Street, Qingpu Town. The two assistants from the house brought the Cantonese copy silk cloud gauze, ivory carved gold plaque, and small jade wares that Ruan Dacheng brought to Master Xiaolian.It was very hot in the morning, and the sun hanging on the Da Ruan Mountain in the east poured too much light and heat onto the land by the sea, as if the whole town was put into a hot steamer. .Sitting on the sedan chair, Ruan Dacheng could clearly see the sweat on the necks and backs of the two bearers in front. The sweat soaked the backs of their jackets.Old Si Yang and the two assistants who were walking on both sides of the sedan chair were also covered in sweat, panting heavily with their mouths and tongues open from the heat.

Fortunately, it is not too far from the "Chunsheng" on Nansipo to the South Street where Mr. Xiaolian lives - the whole road is not too far away, and the scorching heat can be endured. The curse of the scorching sun is revealed. Ruan Dacheng didn't sweat much, because he had the car roof to shade him, and because he didn't do much activity, the sweat was embarrassed to crawl out from his white skin.However, due to the unpleasant heat, his face and neck were a bit greasy, as if coated with oil, Ruan Dacheng took out a small white handkerchief again and again to put on his face and neck Mo——When I returned to Qingpu and met Master Xiaolian for the first time, he must not show the slightest bit of sloppiness!He wants to leave an excellent impression on Master Xiaolian!

The Ruan family and the Lu family were family friends. At the beginning, Ruan Dacheng's father and Master Xiaolian once studied together with Li Shuanglin from Zhejiang.The two were the same Geng, and they started Meng together when they were six years old. They first read "Great Learning" and "Mencius" later, and they broke up after they were ten years old.Unexpectedly, twenty years later, the two took the exam and passed the same exam, which became a good story for a while.When Ruan Dacheng's father was imprisoned in an accident, Mr. Xiaolian was in charge of Tongling County. He was not afraid of the misfortune and his family, and stood by. However, Ruan Dacheng's father died of illness in prison.Afterwards, the Ruan family fell into a slump, and Ruan Dacheng was exiled in Nanyang again, so the communication between the two families was cut off.

On this day, when Ruan Dacheng paid a visit to Mr. Xiaolian, he naturally wanted to renew his family friendship. At the same time, he also wanted to use Mr. Xiaolian's help to establish a foothold on the ground of Qingpu. Ruan Dacheng heard about this matter about the Lu family in Qingpu when he was very young. Whenever his father talked about the Lu family, he was always so awe-inspiring, as if he was talking about some great myth. Therefore, Ruan Dacheng's impression It is extremely profound. According to my father, there were not so many villages and towns on the Eighteen Beaches of Qingpu in the early days. Before the apocalypse of the Ming Dynasty, Qingpu Town and Xinshiji were still barren beaches, and only Ruanjiaji had dozens of families.In the early years of Tianqi, only a villager surnamed Lu from Shandong came here with his family.This villager surnamed Lu was impoverished but had great ambitions. While opening up wasteland and farming land, he studied hard at the same time. The wooden plaque on the gatehouse was written with four big red characters of "going out to farm and studying".The poor villager surnamed Lu worked hard for twenty-eight years, but he neither entered school nor passed the middle school.Before he died, he earnestly warned his children and grandchildren to study hard, strive to make progress, enter official careers, and honor their ancestors.However, the generation of the sons did not make much progress. Several sons took the exam many times, and only one of them was selected as a scholar and never developed again.Before the last son died, he passed on the words left by his grandfather to his grandchildren.At that time, the Lu family had eight grandchildren.Seven of these eight grandsons have no great prospects, only the youngest grandson went from Jinshi to Hanlin, and at the age of forty he became an official servant of the Ministry of Rites, and the Lu family has made a fortune since then.After Lu Shilang retired and returned to his hometown, he brought millions of taels of silver and precious treasures. In the winter of that year, he rebuilt the mansion at the foot of the Nansi slope, employing as many as 300 craftsmen. It took more than five years to build the Lu family's The first time you enter the compound, there are more than 20 big houses with flying phoenixes and dragons.The plaque on the gate tower of the compound is the four characters of "Cultivating and Studying" - Lu Shilang can't forget his grandfather who started his business.After the completion of the new residence of the Lu family, Lu Shilang continued to compile the family tree of thirty-two generations for the descendants. Prosperity and wealth, eternal life, benevolence, righteousness, filial piety, diligence and thrift, adherence to the religious teachings, self-propagation and spreading the fragrance."

After eight years, the old servant died without any illness. After his death, he left a note saying: The Lu family is a foreign family. It is difficult to start a business, and it is not easy to gain a foothold. .In order to prevent future troubles, the old servant left 384 mu of fertile land behind the new house as the family's public property, which will not be divided forever, and will be used as land for future generations to build houses. Later, the Lu family adhered to the ancestral precepts and lived together as a family. The sons and grandsons separated when they grew up. They built a new house behind the old house and a new courtyard behind the old courtyard. After nine generations, the Lu family's mansion has grown into 21 courtyards and more than 300 rooms, just like a family castle.

At the age of thirteen and fourteen, Ruan Dacheng went to Lu's mansion with his father, and the maze-like mansion left a deep impression on him.At that time, although he didn't know much about the world, he deeply felt the imposing power and luxury of this big family.On the first visit, my father was discussing poetry and papers with Mr. Xiaolian in the study of the second courtyard. He felt bored, so he asked his father's permission to go out for a while. Unexpectedly, after passing through the third courtyard, he touched He didn't come back, but in the end, it was a housekeeper in Lu's house who sent him to his father...

The history of Qingpu is actually the history of the Lu family. The history of the prosperity of Qingpu is also the history of the development of the Lu family. The castle of the Lu family used to be the center of Qingpu, and it is still the center of Qingpu. After being imprinted into Ruan Dacheng's mind at the age of three or four, it never disappeared. Naturally, Ruan Dacheng also knew that the Lu family members were not bad.The Lu family is a scholarly family, and they always pay the most attention to loyalty, filial piety and righteousness, and never bully the weak, especially Lu Rongshan, Lu Xiaolian, the highest elder of the Lu family, is honest and fair. About visiting Master Xiaolian.

Go down to Nansipo, pass Beiyang Street, and walk less than a hundred steps before arriving in front of the gate of Lu Mansion. The four bearers stabilized the sedan chair, Ruan Dacheng lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and got off the sedan chair. He raised his eyes to look in the direction of the side door, and saw many ragged villagers crowded in front of the side door. Old Four Yang asked, "What are these people doing here?" Old Si Yang wiped the sweat from his face, and said: "Since the spring famine, master Xiaolian has set up a porridge shop in this side gate, serving porridge once a day in the morning and evening!"

"Well!" Ruan Dacheng thought to himself: Master Xiaolian is indeed benevolent and righteous! "Brother Ruan, wait a moment, I will tell the doorman in the house to let him inform Master Xiaolian!" Taking advantage of this waiting time, Ruan Dacheng folded his hands behind his back and carefully looked at the facilities and decorations at the gate of the Lu residence.The grandeur of the Lu Mansion remains the same as before. The two huge stone lions in front of the door are still entrenched on the high steps. The empty space is still so wide that the gate of the mansion is no less than ten feet away from the street, but the gate tower is tall and majestic. There are three layers of delicate and realistic brick carvings on the brick surface of the gate tower from bottom to top. The bottom layer is a painting of hundreds of flowers. On the middle floor are two dragons playing with pearls, and on the upper floor are the celestial beings. The four big characters "Practice benevolence and fulfill righteousness" protrude from the brilliant forehead, which makes the whole gate tower both majestic and beautiful. Ruan Dacheng can't help but feel Secretly say no in my heart.

After looking at the gate, Ruan Dacheng turned around again and looked at the street across from the Lu Mansion. There were a piece of simple bungalow pavement on the street. Ruan Dacheng didn't see those pavements when he came to Lu Mansion when he was a child. He remembered At that time, there was a small pond in front of the gate of Lu's residence. The water in the pond was very clear, and there were green oysters and white lotus flowers floating on the water.He didn't know when the pond was filled.When was this simple paved house built? He was in a trance with a sense of being separated from the world.

Just at this time, the doorman of Lu's mansion ran out following Old Fourth Yang, and the doorman first bowed his hands to Ruan Dacheng: "Master, please! My master Xiaolian is waiting in the west hall of the second entrance courtyard!" Ruan Dacheng let out an "oh", followed the door step by step up the bluestone steps, and entered the gate of the Lu residence.Inside the gate is the first entrance courtyard, which is very large. There is a stone road in the middle of the yard leading directly to the main hall of the second entrance courtyard. There are two gates on both sides of the first entrance courtyard. There is also a gatehouse on the gate, but it is much smaller than the gatehouse of the gate Ruan Dacheng noticed that the plaque on the gatehouse on the left reads: "Si Dao Ping Ran", and the plaque on the gatehouse on the right reads: "Walk slowly and meditate".Entering the main hall of the second courtyard, you can see red and green in the main hall, a piece of golden light, and the big and thick red lacquered wooden pillars are covered with golden dragons and phoenixes. What's more strange is that the beams on the main hall are actually two dragon heads. His big mouth was closed. Old Si Yang, who was walking beside Ruan Dacheng, was intimidated by the situation, and said timidly to Ruan Dacheng: "Brother Ruan, this Lu residence is not a place for ordinary people! It's not because of your big face, we are entering Don't come!" Ruan Dacheng felt that what Yang Lao Si said was extremely inappropriate, he looked carefully at the doorman who was leading the way, and when he saw that he didn't look back, he gave a faint "hum". After leaving the hall, Mending led Ruan Dacheng and his party into a courtyard on the left. At the gate of the courtyard, an old man with red face and white hair came out slowly. Ruan Dacheng didn't recognize the old man all of a sudden, although his intuition told him that the old man should be the respected and respected Mr. Xiaolian, but he still didn't dare to recognize it. It was Master Xiaolian who spoke loudly first: "Ah! Ah! It really is Mr. Ruan's family! Look, I can't even recognize him!" Ruan Dacheng took two steps forward, knelt down and said, "My nephew Dacheng pays respects to Master Shibo!" Master Xiaolian stretched out his hand to support Ruan Dacheng and said, "Get up, get up! Come! Come! Talk in the hall!" Therefore, Ruan Dacheng called Mr. Yang and the two assistants to hand over the gifts brought to Master Xiaolian to the servants of the Lu family, and asked them to rest in another room with the servants of the Lu family, and he followed Master Xiaolian into the west hall . The west hall is not big, but it is very elegant. In front of the hall is a flower garden, and the fragrance of flowers floats from time to time.There are several flower and bird painting screens facing the door in the hall. Behind the painting screens is an antique Eight Immortals table. There are two carved rosewood chairs beside the table. Bookshelves, the bookshelves are neatly filled with books, from "Mencius", "University" to "Book of Rites", they are all complete. After Ruan Dacheng and Master Xiaolian saluted as expected, they sat down on the rosewood chairs beside the Eight Immortals Table, and the servants of the family immediately brought strong Biluochun tea, and the two began to talk. Master Xiaolian never forgets his old love, squinting a pair of small eyes, sinking into the ethereal realm like a dream.Master Xiaolian talked to Ruan Dacheng with great emotion about many interesting things about him and his father when they were classmates when they were young, and talked about the joy when they passed the same examination.Master Xiaolian seemed to be much younger all of a sudden, not in his sixties, but in his sixteen or seventeen years, and he was ambitious to start a big career! "How fast! Time flies so fast, so many years have passed in a flash, my brother from the Ruan family died in prison, and I buried my neck in the ground!" A cloudy tear flowed from Master Xiaolian's drooping eyelids, and slowly flowed on his sagging square face. Ruan Dacheng was somewhat moved, and said sincerely: "Master Shibo, you can't say that! I see, Shibo's complexion is getting better, good times are yet to come." Master Xiaolian shook his head desperately, the thin braid at the back of his head twisted like a little snake, and said to himself: "Your father died in prison, I know that, how could the poem he wrote be Is it anti-poetry? When I heard about this, I found some friends to speak for him, and the matter was almost completed, but he went! It’s so sad! This may be fate! Oh, his fate is good Bitter! After he passed away, I wrote a sacrificial poem, I can’t remember that poem now, but I still remember the general idea.” Master Xiaolian pondered for a moment, then chanted: Ruan Dacheng couldn't help feeling sad, and the circles of his eyes were slightly red.He was saddened by his father's miserable life experience. Although this sentimental has been with him for more than ten years, it has never been so strong as it is today. Master Xiaolian is truly as righteous as a mountain. In front of Mr. Xiaolian, who is as righteous as a mountain, he felt his vulgarity and shallowness, and he dared not speak rashly. He only put a pair of sweaty hands on his knees, and stared at Mr. Xiaolian's solemnity like a child. Holy face, listening intently. Master Xiaolian sighed for a long time, and said again: "Of course this poem is not good, but it also expresses some emotions in my heart! This poem is not only written for my old brother, but also for myself! Today Remembering it, let alone a feeling in my heart! This old man is sixty-three years old, and he has wasted his life. He has achieved nothing so far, so ashamed! Ashamed!" Ruan Dacheng said: "Master Shi Bo is too modest! Although my nephew is far away in Nanyang, I often hear people talking about Master Shi Bo's high integrity and illustrious political voice! When Master Shi Bo was the magistrate of a county in Tongling, who would not It is Lu Qingtian who praises Lord Shibo! How can Lord Shibo say that he has accomplished nothing?" Hearing this, Master Xiaolian was very happy. He sipped his tea and said, "Oh! Have you heard the rumors about the old man on the ground in Nanyang? Did the boat people who sailed back and forth brought them there? Yes! The old man is an official. I dare not say how holy and selfless it is, but it is possible to be honest and upright, and to be the master of the people! In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, Tongling was plagued by bandits. In August of that year, more than 800 bandits from other counties broke into the county in the middle of the night. The next day, Lord Futai found out that the people in the city were suspected of gangsters. He led thousands of officers and soldiers to besiege Tongling County, intending to slaughter the city. When it was agreed to use the knife, the old man was shocked. He stopped Lord Futai's mount and tried his best Begging, the old man said: "This time the bandits are not seduced by the people, and the bandits are not from the county. How can they punish the people of this county? The 130,000 people in this county are all innocent children of the imperial court. How can they bear to slaughter?" ’ The old man burst into tears, knelt for a long time, and begged until midnight before he persuaded Mr. Futai! This is how the old man’s political voice rose.” Master Xiaolian doesn't seem to have retired from his old age and returned to his hometown, he still seems to be the county magistrate of Tongling!When he talked about his tenure, he was so emotional and intoxicated!Master Xiaolian is obviously not that humble. Master Xiaolian also has his own pride and pride!Among other things, it is something to be proud of because he saved 130,000 people in a county in the 18th year of Jiaqing! According to Mr. Xiaolian himself, when he retired and returned to his hometown, the people of Tongling were reluctant to part with him. After nagging and bragging about himself, Master Xiaolian suddenly remembered other people's affairs, and felt obliged to listen to Ruan Dacheng's experience of drifting in Nanyang for more than ten years. So, Master Xiaolian asked with concern: "Nephew, how did you come here all these years? Tell the old man too!" Dacheng coughed dryly, and said timidly: "There is nothing to say! I am just like Master Shi Bo said, I have accomplished nothing! Although I have read some books and written some poems for more than ten years, I have been doing business and economics in that country. No progress in the world, busy all day for a mouth, doing business, opening a shop, and handling goods on the ground for boatmen traveling from south to north, but accumulated some money, but did not complete a single business... ..." At first Master Xiaolian still pretended to listen with great interest, listening, listening, but his brows were wrinkled, and a gloomy color appeared on Fangzheng's face. Master Xiaolian sipped his tea loudly, swallowed the tea loudly, and fanned his fan loudly. Ruan Dacheng sensed Master Xiaolian's displeasure, and became more timid when speaking, and stopped halfway through speaking. Master Xiaolian raised his chin and said, "Say it, say it! Listen, old man!" Ruan Dacheng had no choice but to talk about how he drifted to the south with the Nanyang bird boat alone, how he managed accounts and collected money in other people's warehouses, and how he ran his own warehouse later. Master Xiaolian's complexion became more and more ugly, his eyelids were closed, his cheeks were swollen, and he was blowing air out. Ruan Dacheng's face, forehead, and neck were sweating profusely. He kept the long story short and succinctly described the process of opening a warehouse and the process of returning to Qingpu with the "Chunsheng" bird ship to be in distress. The third monk didn't dare to exaggerate the betting on meat, he knew that the Xiaolian master in front of him would not take this kind of thing! Sure enough, after Ruan Dacheng finished speaking, Master Xiaolian spoke up, and the first time he opened his mouth, he taught him a lesson: "Nephew Dacheng, many years ago, you traveled alone in a foreign land because of helplessness, the old man knows. However, the old man thinks that one must read some scriptures in one's life, seek fame, and strive to make progress. This is the right way. Let's talk about your lord, how knowledgeable! I still have a lot of his poems and ink marks! Although he said Later, he died in an accident, but that knowledge is incomparable to ordinary people! I just heard your report, and the old man thought that your knowledge today is also incomparable! You said that you often read some poems and books, so, today The old man wants to test you and compose a poem with you to see how you respond!" Ruan Dacheng hurriedly stood up and said, "Master Shibo, my nephew dare not!" Master Xiaolian is a good poet, how could he easily let go of this opportunity to show off?In addition, he shoulders the sacred responsibility of teaching his nephew a lesson, so he is even more anxious to show his hand! Master Xiaolian stubbornly said: "This is something to try! Today, the old man will write a poem on the topic of Furong Rumian." Master Xiaolian immediately called someone to fetch a pen, ink and paper, picked up the pen and meditated for a moment, and wrote like the wind: Master Xiaolian finished writing, sat aside, watched Ruan Dacheng, to see how he would respond. Ruan Dacheng had no choice but to wipe his sweat and pick up his pen. After a while, he wrote: I was stunned for a while, thinking about it hurt my brain, but I couldn't write out the meaning below. Master Xiaolian came over, read Ruan Dacheng's four-line poem, took the pen, and wrote it down without thinking. These four sentences are: Putting down his pen, Mr. Xiaolian thought that he was fully qualified to teach a lesson, so he angrily cursed the ban on opening the sea, and scolded the bird boats and boats in Nanyang, and the flat-bottomed sand boats in Beiyang!Master Xiaolian always believed that the worldly customs on the Shiba Beach in Qingpu were ruined by these businessmen who only valued money but did not know propriety, righteousness and shame!He counted all kinds of vulgar things about the various shops on Nansipo one by one, which unmistakably proved his nobility and greatness.Later, Master Xiaolian also scolded the gangsters who rebelled against the imperial court, the foreign men who deceived the public with lies, and those second-haired men who were willing to degenerate. Master Xiaolian didn't scold Ruan Dacheng, but Ruan Dacheng felt that Master Xiaolian scolded him everywhere! Master Xiaolian accuses Sang and scolds Huai! Master Xiaolian didn't seem to think so, after he scolded heartily, he said to Ruan Dacheng: "Do you think what the old man said makes sense?" Ruan Dacheng thought that Mr. Xiaolian was unreasonable, but he didn't dare to say it directly, he only said: "Master Shi Bo is over-concerned? The matter is not so serious right now?" Master Xiao Lian raised his eyebrows and said sternly: "This is definitely not a worry! My nephew has just arrived here and I don't know anything about it. The current situation in Qingpu is really terrible! Leaving aside natural disasters, this man-made disaster is serious! You Do you know; even in our Lu family, there are quite a few people who are willing to sink, eat foreign medicine, believe in foreign religions, and gather to gamble and whore! How can this happen! If things go on like this, how can the scholarly family of the Lu family continue? How can loyalty, filial piety and righteousness continue? Old man, I can't ignore it! I can't ignore it! Not only do I have to take care of it myself, but I also have to take care of it with me. I can't let the place ruled by the Qing Dynasty go down like this! I don't care about it, I'm sorry for my ancestors Zong, I'm sorry for future generations!" Ruan Dacheng said again: "But this is different from doing business and doing business!" "It's not two different things! It was originally one thing!" Master Xiaolian argued again: "The foreign medicine, the foreign religion, the foreign hair, the gamblers, and the gangsters were all brought after the opening of the sea and the ban on trade! Earlier, we didn't have these things on the eighteenth beach of Qingpu!" Speaking of bandits, Ruan Dacheng asked: "Are there bandits on the ground? I'm afraid it's not true? Aren't the bandits operating on the ground in Nanyang? Haven't they been wiped out by the government?" Master Xiaolian lamented: "If this is the case, it will be fine! Actually, it is not the case! Some time ago, Chen Rongjun, the magistrate of Jinkou County, came to sit at the mansion for a while. When he talked about this, it was rumored that there would be bandits around Jinkou. , it’s just that we haven’t got confirmation yet.” Ruan Dacheng breathed a sigh of relief, said "oh", and stopped asking. Master Xiaolian then turned the topic to Ruan Dacheng, asking Ruan Dacheng not to be greedy for money and only care about small profits, but to revisit the scriptures, study hard, and strive to seek fame and career as soon as possible, so that the Ruan family's scholarly family will shine again .Master Xiaolian earnestly induced Ruan Dacheng to recite the "Five Classics" first, and then read a "Collection of Genghe Poems of Lie Sheng Yu Zhi Qun Chen".Master Xiaolian said: It is not too late to get fame at the age of fifty, and it is never a shame to be a late bloomer! In the end, Master Xiaolian seemed to be a little worried about Ruan Dacheng.Master Xiaolian valued righteousness and could not watch his good friend's son degenerate like this. When he heard that Ruan Dacheng had no place to live, he immediately ordered someone to go to the "Chun Sheng" to retrieve his luggage for Ruan Dacheng and asked him to stay temporarily. At home. Ruan Dacheng was not very happy, he felt that he could not accept Master Xiaolian's old-fashioned preaching no matter what, he would rather respect this Lord Shibo from a distance than throw himself into a cage and live in the Lu Mansion. Master Xiaolian thought that Ruan Dacheng was afraid that he would live in and disturb the Lu family, so he became more generous and vigorously said: "Nephew, don't be polite! When you were drifting in Nanyang, the old man was still in Tongling, and he didn't do anything for you. Li, today, the old man can't ignore it, if the old man doesn't care anymore, my virtuous brother will also criticize me under the nine springs!" Helpless, Ruan Dacheng had no choice but to stay temporarily, thinking, although Mr. Xiaolian is so enthusiastic and generous today, one day, this enthusiastic and generous Mr. Xiaolian will drive him out of the house! Naturally, living in the Lu Mansion is also beneficial, and it will provide an extra layer of protection when doing things in the future - who would have thought that the upright Lu Mansion would live in someone like Ruan Dacheng? So, Ruan Dacheng acted extremely embarrassed, accepted Master Xiaolian's kind invitation, and moved several heavy large boxes and a set of luggage into the Lu residence that afternoon.